Blizzard turns to third Warcraft expansion

Californian game maker Blizzard has announced it’s working on a third expansion package for the world’s most popular MMORPG.

The project, entitled World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm, was announced at the fourth annual BlizzCon event.

The announcement confirmed that Blizzard is not yet ready to focus its core workforce on new IP, but instead – much to the delight of its millions of subscribers – will look to breathe new life in its world-leading franchise.

Speculation of a new Blizzard IP intensified towards the end of 2007, yet the studio has an abundance of smart reasons to return to World of Warcraft.

The last game’s previous expansion, known as The Wrath of the Lich King, sold 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours, a figure which climbed to 4 million copies in a single month.

The World of Warcraft franchise had accounted for around half of Activision Blizzard's earnings during FY09, analysts say.

Blizzard said Cataclysm will once again raise the level-cap for players, to level 85, as well as introduce new playable races, zones and quests.

“In addition to revitalising some of the most familiar and iconic areas of the game world, this third World Of Warcraft expansion will add new features and a large amount of new content for players to explore,” said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime.